Take My Hand, Tonight
by Whimsycal
Summary: TsunaHaru. Something was up with Haru, Tsuna thought. Why else would she be climbing up his window at night, telling him to go on an "adventure" with her? And why was she acting so mysterious?
1. Late Night Visitor

A/N: This will be a rather short multi-chaptered fic (perhaps 3 or 4 chapters), featuring Haru and Tsuna. They'll be around 17 or 18. This idea has been in my mind for a while now, and I'm finally just putting them into words. Enjoy! Also, I love reviews because they make me happy. So if you like how the story is going or if you have any comments or suggestions, please make sure to drop me a one!

TsunaHaru forever! :]

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**Into the Night**

**Chapter 1: Late Night Visitor**

There wasn't much that Tsunayoshi Sawada had wanted in life. He had wanted a nice, stable job in the future, a loving family (preferably with Kyoko), and he didn't want to be involved in any trouble. Unfortunately, the way things were looking, none of these dreams were going to happen.

So he thought a lot about little things he wanted, instead. At the moment, he wanted to flop heavily onto his bed, and sleep a good twenty full hours or so. There was only a week left until the end of high school, and finals had pretty much killed him. Under Reborn's constant tutelage (which had been nerve-wracking; non-stop studying was the only thing on Reborn's agenda for Tsuna), there had not been a lot of sleep included in Tsuna's week.

He was finally given a break after all the exams were over, and Reborn himself decided to take a break as well, deciding to spend the night curled up in Bianchi's arms.

Reborn wanted to push Tsuna to do the best he could, so he would be able to get into a good university and lead the Vongola with the wisdom and knowledge necessary to be a good boss others could look up to. As a result, Tsuna studied intensely for the past couple of years in high school.

Sometimes, he supposed it was good that he met Reborn. Even though now his life was always chaotic and dangerous, at least now he had a goal. Before, he was drifting aimlessly, only going to school to see Kyoko. His mother never pushed him to do anything, he was always No-Good Tsuna at school, and no one would give him a second look.

Now, he was surrounded by close friends, and even through all the dangers they had to go through, life wasn't as aimless. He might even go as far as to say that it was fun. In any case, at least it wasn't dreadfully difficult go through each day.

Knowing his future as boss of the Vongola had given him a sort of determination as well. He tried hard in his classes in high school, making much better grades than he did in middle school or even elementary school, though his grades were still far from perfect.

He had a lot of thank Haru about, he thought to himself, crossing his arms behind his head and staring off at the ceiling of his room. She had helped tutor him in many subjects that he had difficulty in. Reborn had encouraged him to get help from his peers, and Haru was one of the smartest people his age that he knew.

She still went to a different school from everybody else, a prestigious school for people striving to go to prestigious universities, and then later a prestigious job in engineering, business, medicine, or law. But she never failed to make time to help Tsuna with his homework and projects when he asked her for help.

He felt kind of guilty, knowing she undoubtedly had much more workload on her then he ever would have, but she had assured him that she was always caught up in her studies, and of course she would come help him.

Now that his finals were over, and after summer he was going to enter a pretty decent university, he made a mental note to call Haru in the morning and thank her.

He smiled to himself, and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost immediately after his covers were pulled up.

He imagined not much time had passed when in the quiet of night he heard a loud rap on his window. Groaning, he cursed himself for not being a heavy sleeper, and wondered what on earth the noise was.

The teenager laid still on his bed for a while, thinking perhaps he had been hearing things, nearly drifting off to sleep again, until another loud clunk landed on his window.

Knowing something was up, he reluctantly pulled himself out of bed, pinching his face a couple of times to wake himself up. He glanced at the clock on his bed stand. 1 am. It seemed to be mocking him.

Who would be throwing rocks at his window at such a late hour?

He opened the window, shivering at the chilly breeze that drifted into his room and through his thin pajamas.

"Um... who is it?" He asked quietly, squinting into the dark. His voice was still deep, heavy with sleep. He wanted so badly to go back to bed, and a part of him wanted to strangle whoever it was who dared interrupt his sleep when he wanted and needed it so badly. His toes curled in displeasure, from the cold of the floor.

An all too familiar girl's voice responded quietly and happily, "Tsuna-san! Good evening! Well, I guess it's morning now, huh? Good morning!"

There was confusion evident in his voice when he spurted out a surprised "What? Haru? What are you doing?"

He heard her voice, strained, as she said, "One second, Haru will tell you once she gets up there!" The rustling of some branches and bushes sounded out in the darkness below him, and Tsuna was surprised to see a small hand reach up to his open window. He grabbed it, and helped boost her up into his room.

His hand groped for the light on his desk, and after turning it on, both of them groaned and covered their eyes. The light momentarily blinded him, but when he slowly opened his eyes and let them adjust, he saw Haru standing by his window, pulling out leaves and dirt stuck to her clothes and tossing them out the window to his front yard.

"Tsuna-san!" She said pleasantly and naturally, as if it wasn't 1 am at night and she didn't just crawl in through his window.

He couldn't help but look down at her disbelievingly. She looked as lively as ever, dressed in her normal clothes. During the span of high school, Tsuna had spurted upwards at an exponential rate, so they were no longer around the same height, and though Haru grew taller too, he was still nearly a head taller than her.

As she straightened her flowery skirt, and brushed dirt off her leggings, Tsuna couldn't help but look at her a little in the rather dim light.

She had these long, straight legs, and though she wasn't as curvy as Kyoko, she had rounded out at all the right places. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like if he didn't have a massive crush on Kyoko, and tried asking Haru out instead.

He wondered if Haru still even liked him that way. As if on cue, Haru looked up at him and laced her fingers together in front of her skirt, her dark brown eyes bright even in the low light. She smiled up at him, and his slight anger evaporated, though his confusion was still evident.

Tsuna ran his fingers lightly through his messy bed-hair, and sighed tiredly. "What's up?", he asked.

She grinned like she had a secret, and pointed at him, before declaring nonchalantly, "Haru has chosen Tsuna-san as her accomplice in her adventure tonight!"

The mafia boss could only gape at her in disbelief. This was a bad dream, he thought to himself. There was no way Haru wanted to drag him around at 1 am at night to go _adventuring. _It was crazy, just another one of Haru's crazy ideas.

He shook his head. "Can't this wait till tomorrow morning?" She shook her head quickly. Turning back to his bed, he laid down and made some room, and patting the space next to him, told her, "Look, it's late. You can sleep here, okay? I'm really tired."

Sleep was threatening to claim him again, when Tsuna felt a sharp poke on his cheek. Groaning, he opened his eyes to see Haru's face close to his. His eyes widened when he saw the intensity of her gaze. Her eyes looked different.

"Tsuna! Tomorrow is no good. You will definitely regret not going with Haru on her adventure tonight."

There was almost a sort of finality in her tone, a kind of desperation that he sensed with his intuition. He looked into her eyes and saw how much she wanted him to go, and saying no didn't seem like an option anymore.

He bit his lip, before saying, "Fine, Haru. I'll go. But I'm not sure what this is about."

Haru's eyes were shining again, all traces of what he had seen disappeared. Her face relaxed and her pink lips curved into a giant smile.

"Haru can promise that it will be fun." She pulled Tsuna out of his bed, and said, "Maybe it would be better if Tsuna changed out of his pajamas. Haru will wait outside!" Without another word, she lifted herself up to the windowsill, and carefully climbed out, using branches on a nearby tree to make her way down.

Tsuna heard a soft thud of her feet landing on the ground, and breathed out. He randomly tossed on a sweater and jacket, and pulled on a pair of jeans he had left strewn on the ground.

He had no idea what he was doing, but for some reason he knew it meant a lot to Haru, so after brushing unsuccessfully through his hair a couple of times, and slipping on an old pair of sneakers, the teenager climbed out the window.

It was dark outside, and he blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust to the darkness. He made out Haru's figure sitting on the grass on his lawn, but when she saw him land on the grass, she stood up and went up to him.

She grabbed his hand, and led him to her car, which was parked by the curb in front of his house. A swift touch to the remote control button to unlock the car, and a sharp beep shuddered into the night. The neighborhood was very quiet at the late hour. Haru opened the door and sat down on the driver's side.

Tsuna scratched his head, before going around and sitting down on the passenger seat.

"So, where are we going?"

When she turned to look at him, her hands lightly placed on the top of steering wheel, he could just barely make out a devious expression adorning her face.

"Haru has a list of things she wants to do tonight."

She paused dramatically, before sticking her index finger in the air, and continuing, "One, Haru wants to break into her high school." Another finger went up, as she said, "Two, Haru has some unfinished business with some of her old friends, so we will go pay them a visit later. Three, Haru wants to enjoy some cake."

Now four fingers were in the air, but she just mysteriously grinned and told the puzzled brown haired male, "Four is a secret, but it's something Haru has been wanting to do for a while now."

As confused as ever, Tsuna asked, "But why am _I_ here?"

She laughed, patting his hair a little. "Tsuna-san, you're the only one I want to accompany me. Feel honored, okay?"

Revving up the car engine, she smiled at Tsuna's disgruntled look, before lightly saying, "Shall we go now?", and stepping on the gas.

chapter 1 end

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A/N: Well? Well? :D What do you guys think? Next chapter will probably be up in a week or two! Or sooner if I get inspired or encouraged enough. :]

-Whims


	2. Desk of Doodles

A/N: Okay, it might turn out to be longer than 3 or 4 chapters. But it definitely won't go over 10 chapters. Hmmm.. I seem to write Haru as a lot more serious than she is portrayed in the actual manga, but hopefully it's believable, since the setting is about 4 years into the future.

As always, please leave a review if you have any comments or suggestions!

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**Chapter 2: Desk of Doodles**

"Here, drink some of this, Tsuna-san."

Tsuna looked down at the cold bottle handed to him, a bottle of coffee. He was going to need this, especially because their "adventure" seemed like it was going to take a long time.

"Thanks", he said, popping the cap and taking a heavy swig of the cool drink. It was going to take some time to sink in, as his eyes were threatening to close by themselves again.

He shook his head roughly, trying to keep his eyes open, and turned to look at the driver. Haru's eyes were focused on the road as they slowly cruised through neighborhood streets.

She turned and smiled, before stating, "Haru bought a whole box of coffees, so help yourself when you need them. They're in the backseat."

Tsuna indicated that he was okay for now, to which Haru shrugged and began to hum to the radio.

None of the things she had on her list made sense to him. He supposed that he would just have to learn what they meant throughout the night while they checked off the tasks one by one.

"So, we are going to your school?" He tried to clarify.

"Yup!" Haru chirped, tapping her slim fingers on the wheel to the beat of the music from the radio.

"...And we are going to... break into it?" That didn't seem very... legal, which made Tsuna a bit nervous. "How are we going to do that?"

Having reached her destination, Haru pulled over to the curb across from the school, and grinned, "What do you think? Haru brought a crowbar. We'll smash a window or two. Haru will even let you do the fun part, the smashing!"

Feeling a bit sick to the stomach, Tsuna swallowed hard. Breaking and entering? He was now 100 percent sure what they were going to do was illegal in many parts of the world, including Nanimori town.

Haru's mouth curled up, her eyes shone deviously, as she opened the door and jumped out of the car. "Come on! We have a lot on our agenda!", she said to Tsuna, as she pulled a backpack from the backseat, slung it over her shoulder, and, checking the roads to make sure there were no cars, ran across the street.

Her friend hesitantly followed her to the entrance of the school, where the two of them looked at the main gate. It seemed they were not at the right spot, however, when Haru nudged her companion, and grabbed his hand.

To his surprise, they did not try to open the front gate, but instead walked around to the side of the campus, where there was another door. A side entrance, he thought.

Haru took off her backpack, and reached in, grabbing something. Thinking it was going to be a crowbar, Tsuna was relieved to see that it was just a flashlight.

"Are you sure you want to break into the school?", he asked, "Crowbars are pretty dangerous, you know." Maybe there was hope, maybe he could convince her to back down from her crazy idea.

But Haru just laughed, and pushed on the side gate, which opened easily.

"Haru was just kidding about the crowbar. Haru stuck a perfect sized rock between the door and the gate, so that it wouldn't be fully closed, even when it looks like it's closed!"

She smiled mischieviously. Tsuna was starting to get used to all the surprises. He figured that with Haru, anything was possible. She had obviously thought out this whole night in detail, and made all the preparations beforehand.

Perhaps she had been planning this night for a while now.

He breathed out slowly, and smiled slightly, defeated. "Okay then. What's next?"

They made their way into the school, which truthfully, creeped Tsuna out a lot. He had never been to school while there weren't classes, and especially not at night, when there was no one there. The halls echoed with their soft footsteps.

He felt a little bit grateful when Haru's hand slipped into his in the darkness, with only the flashlight as their guide. When he looked at Haru's profile ridden with shadows dancing on her face from the flashlight's light, he was taken aback to see that she looked a little scared as well. Tsuna had expected her to be brave, seeing how she seemed to be so confident about what she was doing.

Maybe that's why she wanted him to be her "accomplice", he thought. She wasn't as confident about this adventure as she showed on the outside.

They passed classrooms, full of empty desks and clean blackboards. Moonlight shone through the windows, making it almost seem like a ghost school.

He felt his heart hammering in his chest. Tsuna never denied that he was quite the wimp when it came to scary, dark places. He wasn't one for heroics, so he was relieved when Haru finally stopped in front of a classroom door, and whispered, "Haru's classroom".

They opened the door, and for some reason he felt his pounding heart calm down. It wasn't as scary to be in an actual classroom, the classroom that Haru spent her school days in. It was definitely less scary than walking down the empty hallway with their resounding steps and shadows playing on the walls.

Haru's hand left his, and she went to sit down at a desk at the side of the room, next to the window. Once again she reached into her bag, this time bringing out a giant eraser. She began to vigorously rub at the desk.

Curious, Tsuna approached her. Shining the flashlight at the desk, he couldn't help but widen his eyes at what he saw. On the polished wood of the top of the desk, there were hundreds of small doodles, designs, written words. The whole desk was covered with pencil marks. It was beautiful, he thought.

Yet Haru was sitting there, rubbing off each little mark one by one.

"W-wait. Why are you doing that?" Tsuna asked, stopping her by grabbing her wrist softly.

In the dim light, he could see how determined she was at her task. He thought she would go back to erasing, but she only looked up at him and started to explain,

"Haru never liked this school. It's prestigious, I know. But.. I hate it. It is superficial, with so much people who compete and compete and have to make everything into a competition. People are cut-throat. There is cheating, there is sucking up to teachers to get better grades. Haru's parents are always telling her to study, and Haru can only remember a couple of times when she wasn't feeling unhappy or stressed."

Tsuna was speechless. He never imagined Haru to be a sad type of person. She was always so happy and imaginative, and so.. well.. bubbly. He could imagine her unhappiness in a setting like this type of school, which no doubt stifled her creativity day by day.

Haru continued, "This desk was something like an outlet for Haru. A place which tied her to the school, even if it was by just a little. During lectures, Haru liked to draw and write on the desk for fun. Probably the most fun I've ever had in this school. But Haru has decided that she doesn't want anything to do with the school right now, and it makes sense to erase this one connection Haru has."

With a proud smile at Tsuna, she lifted the eraser and went back to erasing. The teenage boy stared wistfully at the beautifully designed desktop for a moment, before sighing and going to the teacher's desk in the front.

He searched the table for an eraser, and after reaching blindly into drawers, pulled out a small rubber instrument. When he made his way back to where Haru was, he sat at the desk next to hers and dutifully helped her with the erasing.

They rubbed until their arms were sore and thin rubber shavings littered the desk and the ground around them. There were just faded, unidentifiable marks on the polished wood now.

"Yosh", Haru stood up, rested her hands on her hips, examining their hard work. She nodded contently, and cupping her hand at a corner of the desk, swept the eraser shavings into her open palm.

Tsuna looked down at his hands. They were numb with the nonstop rubbing, and the tips of his fingers were covered with smudged, dark lead marks.

"Thanks, Tsuna!", she smiled down at him. The moonlight coming in from the window shone on her dark hair, giving it a layer of sheen.

Tsuna stood up, and smiled back at her, shrugging, "Anytime, Haru. Was that all you wanted to do here?"

"Tsuna, have you ever wondered why Haru always tried to hang out with you and the rest of your friends since Haru met you while we were in middle school?"

The messy brown haired teenager looked confusedly at the girl, who was biting her lip. He thought it was because she liked him, right? To be honest, he had never thought about it much. She had become one of his closest friends, a constant in his life, a girl he saw a couple times a week.

She didn't wait for an answer, "A couple weeks before I met you, I was tossed aside and shunned by the people I thought were my best friends. All at once, I went from being well liked by everyone to the main target of bullying."

"W-what?" Tsuna said loudly in disbelief. He never imagined that Haru, of all people, could be the target of bullying. She was always standing up for weaker people, like babies for example.

What could she possibly have done to deserve the treatment from her friends?

The girl grinned humorlessly, "At first I was confused about why suddenly everyone was ignoring me. But then I figured out that it was because both my parents were teachers. Since I always got the highest grades in class, everyone for some reason thought I was somehow using my parents to get my grades."

She glanced at Tsuna, then back at the ground. "Haru was so hurt. Haru was always trying her best, and studied so much every night to not let her parents down."

"But... that's not your fault, Haru!" Tsuna reasoned. It was scary what jealousy and competition could lead to. He put a hand on her shoulder, "I always thought it was very admirable how determined you are at everything. You always try your best."

Haru looked at him, her eyes wide. The sadness in her seemed to lift, and she reached her arms around him, giving him a quick hug. "Haru is so happy to have found Tsuna and everybody else." She pulled apart from him, and said, "Let's continue on the adventure."

Tsuna glanced at her, waiting for her to explain the next task.

"Originally, Haru wanted to go and get revenge on all the friends who treated her so badly", she said, "But now Haru doesn't want to anymore."

She started walking towards the door, down the hall, to exit the building. "Haru planned to go to their houses and leave incriminating photos of them cheating on tests and stuff in their mailbox. They would get into sooo much trouble with their parents." She relished the thought for a moment in her mind, but then shook her head, "Then I asked myself, would Tsuna-san do something like that? And the obvious answer was no. So we're gonna skip task 2."

Tsuna wasn't sure what to think about that. He had never seen this side of Haru before. It was so different from her normal ways, and it was interesting.

"I wish you told me earlier about what you went through though. I'm sure I would have tried to do something about it."

They had reached her car again, and over opposite sides over the car, Haru caught his eyes, saying, "You allowed me to be a part of your group. That made Haru more than happy. Haru was just so glad to be accepted. Your friendship means everything to me", before ducking down into the driver's seat.

The teenage boy stood there for a second, stunned and speechless. Something in his chest was stirring. He wasn't sure what it meant, but he wanted to tell Haru that she was an amazing person, and he was glad that she was his friend, too.

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A/N: How was it? I hope you like it so far! Hopefully there aren't too many grammar mistakes, and the plot is at a good pace. Why do you guys think Haru is acting so mysterious? What's going to happen after the night is over?

I won't spoil it. ;]

Reviews are loved forever and ever!

-whims


	3. Cake Break

_A/N: Hello you beautiful people! I've been playing with many ideas in my head regarding this story for the past couple weeks. And this is the final product for chapter three! I hope you enjoy!_

_oouoo _

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**Chapter 3: Cake Break**

In front of the Nanimori Bakery, Haru eased her car to a stop. She flashed Tsuna a smile, before opening the car door and getting out. Tsuna quickly followed suit, and together they stood under a street lamp before the locked doors.

"Umm.. I know we are probably here for cake, which is task three, but how are we going to manage that?", he asked pointedly, motioning at the sign which boasted "CLOSED", hanging inside the window with the displays.

"Tsuna-san, you should really have more faith in Haru", she giggled, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a chain of keys. She fumbled around with them for a while, before holding out the one she was looking for, triumphant.

The Vongola boss's mouth dropped open just slightly, looking at the girl with disbelief. "W-wha-?"

Haru stuck the keys into the keyhole, wiggling it around to make it fit. There was a small click, to which she happily pushed open the door.

She turned her head toward Tsuna and said briskly, "Haru used to work here, you know."

This came as a surprise to Tsuna. He was slightly offended that he was never told of this fact, and stated his mind out loud.

Haru shrugged and said, "But you never asked". As she turned on the lights, Tsuna caught a bothered expression on her face when she looked at the cutely decorated interior.

"When was this?" he pried, deciding that at this very moment, he did want to learn more about Haru and everything that happened in Haru's life.

"I just worked here for a couple of months last year", she answered after a pause. She walked through the flap-door and made her way to stand behind the counter.

"Welcome! How can Haru help you?", she chirped naturally, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear and beaming at Tsuna.

His hyper intuition told him that this was her way of changing the subject, so he sighed and decided to play along.

"My friend recommended me this place. She really loves it here, I think. What do you think is good?", Tsuna asked, looking down at Haru, who had one hand placed on top of the register, the other hand propped on the counter.

"Haru personally likes everything here! But sir, you should definitely try the coffee cake, or maybe the strawberry delight cake! They are very popular and Haru thinks they taste absolutely heavenly."

Laughing, Tsuna said, "Okay then, I'll take a slice of each, please!"

"Of course! Wait one sec.", she said, grabbing a paper box before going to the fridge in the back. She carefully pulled out two slices of cake and placed them delicately down in the box. After she folded the top down, Haru set the box into a paper bag, tucking two paper plates, forks, and some napkins into it.

When she got back to the register, she handed the bag over the counter to Tsuna. Then she found a piece of paper and jolted something down on it, leaving it next to the register. She dug into her pants and pulled out some money, placing it under the piece of paper.

"There", she said, "The owner let me keep the spare set of keys even after I quit because he trusts me and also he knows how much of a cake addict I am."

"Ah... I didn't bring my wallet, Haru." Tsuna mentioned, not wanting to feel like a cake-thief, but Haru just shook her head.

"Haru's got you covered. Besides, it was Haru's idea to have cake anyways." She walked out the flap-doors and grabbed Tsuna's free arm. "Let's go eat our cake!"

As she turned off the lights Tsuna caught another wistful look on her face, but it quickly disappeared with the lights. When they left the bakery, the dark haired girl carefully locked the door behind her. Besides the brown bag Tsuna being careful not to knock around too much, it was like they were never there, as they looked at closed sign in the window and at each other.

"Where to?", the taller teenager questioned.

"Haru's secret spot", said the other mysteriously, looking somewhat shy. Tsuna wanted so badly to ask where that was, but he held back, knowing he would know soon enough what she meant.

When they were back in the car, and Haru was once again focused on the road, tapping her slim fingers to the beat of the radio's music, Tsuna thought about how much he didn't know about Haru. They've known each other for years, yet it seemed to him that she knew almost everything about him, and he knew so little about her personal life.

Maybe it was because she made the effort to know what was going on with his life, and it never crossed his mind that he should have done the same. She was always that constant. He couldn't even imagine a world in which Haru wasn't his friend.

She had so effortlessly adapted into his family, from helping his mother with the overwhelming amount of chores which came with accepting so many guests into the house, to taking care of Lambo and Ipin when they were younger. And then helping him with his homework and school projects without a single complaint.

He stole a quick look at Haru before glancing out the window. They were now nearer to the outskirts of Nanimori. Streetlights were spaced out further and further, and there were less buildings and more trees.

At an area more densely populated with trees, she slowed the car down, turning from the road to a grass and dirt grounded area.

"We're here!", she said as she parked and got out of the car.

Tsuna hesitated, puzzled at where exactly Haru was going to lead him, but concluded that he trusted Haru completely. After he closed the car door behind him, cake bag in hand, he looked to her for the next step.

She held his hand tightly, and pulled him into the darkness of the trees. Being in the dark, surrounded by grand trees and bushes, Tsuna had to admit that he was rather scared.

But Haru seemed less so, her chocolate eyes browsing their surroundings with familiarity.

"Look over there", she motioned, shining a flashlight at the leafy canopy. The aim of the light rested on a good sized structure resting in between the trunk of a large tree and some sturdily set branches. It wasn't very high up, maybe just around Tsuna's height, but camouflaged well. A passerby would not be able to see the treehouse from the road.

Letting go of Tsuna's hand, she climbed the tree with ease, seeming to know every nook and cranny where she could place her feet. When she got to the treehouse, she lifted herself in.

From where Tsuna was standing, he could see her fumbling around in the darkness. He heard her say a quiet "aha!" before light shone from the small house. Haru's arm reached out, a battery powered lantern swinging in her hand.

"Come on up!", she said playfully, making sure the light would shine down on Tsuna, so he could figure out where to step.

He took a deep breath, and climbed the tree with the paper bag hooked around his arm, boosting himself up with Haru's help near the top. When he went into the shack, he had to be careful to crouch low, in order not to bump his head on the wooden top.

Slowly, he sat down, bated breath hoping the treehouse wouldn't collapse under their weights. When he felt more relaxed, he observed his surroundings. The inside of the treehouse was quite small. He estimated that if he laid down, he would not be able to fit.

Haru was sitting comfortably with her back resting against the other side of the tree-house and knees tucked in her arms, yet there was no more than two feet of distance between them. There were some blankets and books sprawled out on the floor, and Haru had tacked some posters and random papers on the walls.

There were some pictures of cute animals and babies, some music bands posters, and some maps. Haphazardly in the corner laid a pile of sewing materials: various fabrics, yarn, buttons and zippers. It was like a workshop, almost.

Haru reached up and hung the lattern from the ceiling.

"Haru's secret spot. Tsuna-san, you're the first friend I've ever shown. It's comfy, isn't it?" She smiled happily, looking at Tsuna with a light blush on her cheeks and some hesitation in her eyes.

"I like it. It's really nice", Vongola's tenth boss said, looking around the small room once more. "How did you find it?"

She reached her hand out for the bag with the cakes, and Tsuna handed it to her. "That, my dear Watson, will be a secret", she said with a mysterious grin, as she unwrapped the cakes from their box and forked a cake onto each plate.

"Which one would you like?", she asked, holding out the two plates as offerings to Tsuna.

He looked at the two confectionery wedges, and, unsure of which one to take, told Haru to choose first.

She considered her options for a second, before handing the coffee one to the brown haired teenager. "Haru feels like strawberry today."

With that, she used her fork to dig a chunk out of the strawberry delight cake, bringing it up without a moment's hesitation to her lips.

Tsuna watched her, half amused at how her face brightened in ecstasy as she relished the first bite. Her eyes closed in satisfaction, and the sounds she was making was not unlike the purring of a cat.

He couldn't help but chuckle at her. When she heard him, her eyes opened. "It's not funny. This is really yummy! You try too, Tsuna-san."

Before he knew what was going on, Haru had decreased the space between them, and crawled to kneel in front of where he was sitting. She held out her plate under his nose.

"Try it", she all but demanded.

Tsuna blushed at their proximity, and paused before using his fork and chiseling off a small piece of the pink cake. His face heated up when he noticed Haru's dark eyes following the piece as he brought it up to his mouth.

Her gaze was intense and focused on Tsuna's lips, and when he finally dropped the cake into his mouth, her eyes traveled up to his eyes, to see his reaction.

The cake was actually really good, he thought to himself as he chewed the spongy texture. Really, really good.

Without thinking, he brought his fork up and tore off another piece. At this, Haru giggled, happy that her friend liked it too.

"How come you stopped working at the bakery if you like it there so much?", the Vongola boss couldn't help but blurt out. It had been bothering him for a while now, "The manager seems to like you, since he let you keep the keys, and you love the cakes and you're a natural at customer interaction."

It didn't make sense, and Tsuna wanted to know why Haru would stop working at a place which obviously brought her a lot of happiness.

He looked at Haru, who had not been expecting the question, and was biting her lip and looking at the wooden ground of the tree-house.

There was an uncomfortable silence during which Tsuna almost regretted asking her there question, but then she said, "My parents forced me to quit. They wanted me to focus on my studies, and they thought working at a bakery would be unhelpful to my future."

She grinned humorlessly and continued, "Of course, Haru still tried to worked there secretly, but they found out and had a talk with the manager. He had no choice but to fire me."

It made sense that Haru would rebel against her parents, but Tsuna was mainly surprised at how strict her parents were. After all, his own mother was never really strict with him at all. She never forced him to do anything, and just automatically accepted every decision that Tsuna decided to make.

"Haru, I don't think that's right. You should do whatever you love to do, you know?", he was able to murmur, patting her shoulder lightly.

She beamed at him, all the defeat he had spotted in her eyes disappeared completely. "Of course! Haru is going to fight-oh!", she said enthusiastically, punching a fist in the air.

There was a determination shining in her eyes, and Tsuna did not doubt at all what she said. Haru was the type of person who would die for what she believed in, and who was undoubtedly one of the most stubborn people he knew.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cellphone, flipping it open to check the time. "It's almost four. Wanna head out to task four?"

But then she looked closer at her brightly lit cellphone screen, and hit some buttons. Something she saw made her frown.

"What?", Tsuna said, a little bit concerned at her quick change of emotion, looking at the crease marks in between her brows.

She was deep in thought for a while, then she stated, "We might have to take a short detour before we go to task four."

"What happened?", he asked hesitantly.

Haru tucked her cellphone back into her pocket, before crawling over to the door, and starting to back down the tree. With her hands grasping the sides of the entrance for support, she told him, "Haru needs to pick up a" she paused here, and put an emphasis on the next word, "..friend..., and drive her home."

Immediately Tsuna knew what kind of friend she was talking about. It must be one of the "friends" she had in her high school. The ones who used to be her best friends and tossed her aside. For the dumbest reasons.

They must all be completely mental, he thought to himself. Haru was an amazing and intelligent person. He had always known that, yet he then realized that he was just starting to learn more about her himself.

And after everything about herself that Haru revealed to him, all he knew was that he wanted to know more and more about her.

"Does Tsuna want to come? You can stay here if you want, and Haru can get you later after, if you want. It'll be fast."

There was no delay at all in his response. "No, I'll come." The lanky teenager grabbed his cake plate, turned off the lantern, and went toward the door, ready to follow Haru down to sturdy ground again.

"Okay, but Haru's gonna warn you right now, it's not going to be fun."

chap 3 fin.

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_A/N: Well, well, well? What do you think? ;) What will happen next? Where is the night going to take Tsuna and Haru? I hope my characterization of high school Tsuna and Haru are still believable. I like to imagine Haru as an imperfect girl with a lot of imagination and passion and mysteries, and I hope I'm getting that across._

_And as always, I love love love getting reviews. Even if it's just to say that you read it, or something. Because even if it's a critical review, when I see a review I feel like YES! I'm not just writing this for myself, other people actually read it! And that makes me happy! I would love to know what you think! :)_

_-whims_


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